


Sunlight Through The Leaves

by Kennywolf7



Series: Shades of the Forest [2]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Multi, Pre-OT3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2014-11-29
Packaged: 2018-02-27 11:08:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2690633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kennywolf7/pseuds/Kennywolf7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura and Danny have a talk</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunlight Through The Leaves

Danny woke to the sound of a door being closed. It wasn't really a slam but it definitely wasn't quiet either. The fact that her head was  already hurting before she even opened her eyes wasn't helping. And who the hell had slammed her door in the first place? One of the biggest perks of being an officer  with the Summer Society was getting your own room.  And while Danny didn't mind her sisters being in her room for the most part, it was a little creepy that someone had been when she was asleep.

 

She opened her eyes hoping to try and find a clue as to who had been in her room. The first thing she saw was pain, and she closed her eyes again actually groaning and starting to realize just how crappy she felt.  She tried again and this time she saw yellow and beyond the yellow fabric a wall that did not belong in her room. She stayed there in confusion for a bit, her tired mind trying to make sense of it, and having been at Silas so long somehow being transported to a different dimension wasn't so wacky.

 

But the memories came back soon enough. Seeing Laura and Carmilla kissing, taking it very badly, letting herself go out and getting horribly drunk and wandering the forest in dark. Running into Carmilla, Then of course  the events she never will speak of again and getting dragged back to room 307. She remembered laying on the bed  but not falling asleep. All of it was pretty blurry to be honest.

 

"Oh, you're up!" A familiar voice cut through the air and also through her skull. Danny groaned again and  shifted slightly to look at where the voice was coming from. She had to blink a few times before her sleep filled vision made the image of Laura sitting across the room of her own bed perfectly clear.

 

Now normally just seeing Laura would easily bring a smile out of Danny, even now she felt a corner of her lips twitch upward but it didn't go further than that. She could remember the kiss she walked in on better than anything else  from the previous night, which was a problem.  She felt betrayed, even though it wasn't like she and Laura had actually been together. Still... she had felt like there was some kind of connection, something more than just friendship, and she had though Laura felt it too. It sure seemed like it the few moment they got alone... even if they never got to the actually talking about it part. Now they never would.

 

"Kinda." Danny said after a moment, forcing herself to smile at least a little bit. Laura giggled and her smile became more genuine. Hollis had such a pretty laugh, it really wasn't fair. She could remember hearing that goofy laugh for the first time in their Lit class. Everyone had laughed when the professor told a joke, but Laura's  had stood out to Danny and she had turned her head and seen the freshman. Laura must have felt Danny’s eyes on her because for a second their gazes locked but then Laura quickly looked away and wrote something in her note book. If Danny had to pick a moment, a specific incident where the interest started it would be that moment. If she had known back then how much getting involved with Laura would hurt... would she have done it? Well realistically, yes, because there really was no way she could have known because of time paradoxes and things like that... but hypothetically she wasn't as sure. Not that it mattered because she had gotten involved and it hurt like hell.

 

"How are you feeling?" Laura's worried voice broke through her thoughts. Danny wasn't really sure how to respond to that. She felt like she should lie, for Laura's sake, so she wouldn't end up feeling guilty or something. Although it wasn't like she had handed Danny drink after drink last night, even if it was the shorter girls actions that had fueled it. Lying just seemed like too much effort though, not to mention she was pretty sure she looked as shitty as she felt.

 

"Like I've been beaten up by a vampire." Danny tried to joke but it came out a little bitter. Laura had apparently taken it more literally because her eyes widened.

 

"She didn't, did she?" Laura asked, concern and worry in her voice. Honestly just how worried Laura sounded was a little surprising. Danny wasn't used to people worrying about her getting hurt. Getting hurt was just something that seemed to happen, it came with the territory of hunting and just generally being as active as she was. She was tough and people just assumed Danny would suck it up and move on. Which she did of course, but that didn't mean she didn't wish someone would care. The redhead was tempted to play up how much Carmilla had messed with her to see how worried Laura could get, but her pride squashed that out.

 

"No she didn't. I mean she punched me but it's fine." Danny explained, although  Laura didn't seem happy with that either. "Seriously, it's fine."

 

"Okay, okay!" Laura conceded holding her hands up in surrender for a moment. She let her hands drop back to the bed and silence fell with them. Danny found her eyes looking anywhere but Laura. She knew she should probably ask about what she had seen... but truthfully she didn't want to know, never mind talk about it... not so soon anyways. She needed time to process, and analyze so she wouldn't end up making more of a fool of herself than she already had. After a few moments of silence Danny realized she probably shouldn't be here, Hell her summer sisters were probably worried. Danny pulled out her phone hoping to find some kind of distraction, or she would have if it had been in her pants pocket. A look of panic crossed her face.

 

"Oh! Your phone!" Laura exclaimed and Danny looked up as the freshman got up and went to her desk and picked up her phone  then brought it over. "Your sisters were blowing it up so I told them you were safe here."

 

"Oh... thanks." Danny mostly mumbled as she took the phone. Well there went that escape route. She unlocked her phone and started looking through all the texts that had received, mostly so she wouldn't have to look at Laura. There were about 7 different conversations going on and none of them she remembered responding too.  Most of them were just 'Where the hell are you, Lawrence!?' There were a few like that from Laura, mixed in with apologies which then turned into a conversation between  Laura and Carmilla using Danny's phone and the TA thought she was going to be sick.

 

"Do you want to use the shower?" Laura piped up and Danny looked up again despite herself.

 

"What?"

 

"A shower. No offence but it looks like you could use one." Came the the sheepish answer and Danny looked down at herself. Her knees were all sorts of muddy and the rest of her wasn't much cleaner. She was sure her hair was a complete mess and she didn't smell too good either. Staying here really wasn't a good idea though.

 

"Yeah... I'll just go get one at the house. Which I should prob-"

 

"Danny, please. It's the least I can do." Laura practically pleaded. Which Danny had to agree with her, it _was_ the least she could do after putting her through hell for the past few weeks worrying about her safety and then culminating in the horrible trainwreck that was last night. Still walking outside in her current state was not something Danny really wanted to do. Plus Laura was giving her those Damn eyes, the ones that would  get Danny to stand up to the dean in a heartbeat.

 

"Alright... thanks, I guess." Danny gave in and started to stand up. Then sat back down again as a dizzy spell hit her.  Laura made a step towards her but quickly stopped when Danny held up her hand.  Danny sat there for a moment, took a few deep breaths and tried again. This time she was fine. Well, better anyways, she knew how to handle it when she was expecting it.  She stood there for another moment then made her way to the bathroom.

 

She had used the shower before, in a simpler time before vampire roommates and unreturned feelings so at least she didn't have to ask Laura in to help turn it on or whatever. Danny turned on the water, made it nice and warm, then stripped and got in. She just stood there for a bit... let the water wash away the gross feeling that surrounding her. It helped, more than she was expecting it to. She grabbed a bar of soap and used her hand to start to scrub where she felt the worse, her face, her hands, her knees, and her stomach which was a little more purple than she remembered it. She rinsed off then looked at her options for shampoo.

 

There were two options... One in a darker bottle  that had 'MINE' written boldly with a black sharpie. It looked pretty new and Danny wondered if Carmilla had written it for her sake, guessing this would happen.The other option was a cream colored bottle and seemed to have a brown sugar and vanilla scent if the pictures on the bottle were right.  Danny reached for that one first flipped open the lid and sniffed. Yup, definitely Laura's. In its concentrated form it was sickeningly sweet. She knew that once it was washed out though it would smell wonderful... although the thought of having Laura's smell following her around the rest of the day was  already unnerving.  She quickly  closed it and grabbed Carmilla's and put it in her hands. As she put it in her hair a smell of some sort of flower hit her. Violet?  She couldn't really tell, which was a bit odd because she did know her flowers, but this was shampoo not an actual flower so she blamed that for her inability to name the scent. As she was washing her hair and starting to smell a little bit like Carmilla, she wondered if picking the shampoo of the person Laura had chose to be with instead of her was  some sort of physiological thing. It probably was... but she really only had two choices and this seemed the less painful of the two. Still she rinsed it out as fast as she could hoping the smell wouldn't stick.

 

Once she was all rinsed she turned the water off. She stood in the shower for a while, letting the water drip off, dreading having to go out and probably talk to Laura. Her wet skin soon started to get cold and she forced herself to dry off. The towels were a little smaller than what she would normally use, but she wasn't going to be walking around in just a towel here so it didn't matter. Once dried she put her dirty clothes back on because she didn't have anything else and it wasn't like she could borrow from Laura and she would wear Carmilla's clothes even if they would fit. She glanced at herself in the mirror, still a bit of a wreck, but at least she looked like she had showered and she felt cleaner. Her mouth had a nasty taste to it though and she used her finger as a makeshift tooth brush and borrowed some toothpaste so her breath wouldn't smell like alcohol and vomit.

 

Walking out into the room was odd... like deja vu and a vision all rolled into one. This was how it had started, Laura letting her borrow the shower after the town hall meeting which had lead to them deciding to team up to find the culprits behind the disappearances. It felt like years ago, she had seen the videos, both of them had been all grins and long looks and it had felt so good and they had only just really started to get to know each other. Now though they both looked different. More mature maybe? She couldn’t really describe it.

 

Laura turned when she entered the room and their eyes met and for a second it was like they were back at beginning and Laura smiled her goofy smile and Danny managed to smile back. Danny would give anything to go back to that day. Maybe she would kiss Laura like she had been really tempted to. Or maybe at least said something about how cute Laura was... since a kiss on the first "stand up against the evil dean" was probably a faux pas. Still, she could mentally count all the times she had wanted to and at least in a few opportunities she was pretty sure Laura would have let her. She missed her chance though. Her smile started  to fall and her mind started to think about the next plan to get out.

 

"Danny...We.... We need to talk." Laura stammered out and Danny felt something in her gut just drop. Talking was the last thing she wanted to do, because talking would mean she and Laura were over... officially, before they even started and it wasn't fair that a damn vampire had beaten her to the punch. Not to mention hearing Laura say anything about how she was with Carmilla would just feel like she was getting staked.

 

Her eyes, while refusing to meet Laura's, landed on Carmilla's bed. It was a mess, which really wasn't much different than how it normally was except Danny had slept in it last night and she couldn't remember how it had been when Carmilla had pushed her onto it.

 

"I should make Carmilla's bed!" Danny spewed out then quickly began to work because literally she would rather  rip off her own skin then actually talk about what she had seen last night. Although as she was doing she couldn't help but feel that Carmilla would be more annoyed  than anything if Danny had made the bed which only had Danny paying extra attention to make sure it was perfect. Danny could hear Laura saying her name as she worked but she pushed it from her mind and after three time Laura just stopped and looked on while Danny worked.

 

She finished rather quickly, the bed was smaller then she was used to and her long limbs made reached  around the corners pretty easy.  Now that she was done though she wanted to keep moving, to run, specifically out of this room, maybe in the woods, just... _somewhere_.

 

"Feel better?" Came Laura's slightly exasperated voice from behind her. Danny turned her her head just enough to see Laura out of the corner of her eye. Her arms were folded over her chest  and a slight frown on her face but she couldn't tell if it was from worry or annoyance.

 

"A little." At least she was being partially honest. "I should really get going, I don't want to worry the girls." With that excuse Danny tried to make her exit but Laura was in front of her blocking the door.

 

"Danny. I mean it, we need to talk." Laura was practically pleading and Danny accidentally had met her eyes and as much as she wanted to leave she knew she was basically trapped until Laura had said her piece.

 

"I don't  think there's much to talk about. I saw enough to know what is going on. "

 

"No, you really don't."

 

Danny blinked at that. What could possibly be happening that wasn't made obvious by what she had seen? The redhead was thinking about calling bullshit on that but held her tongue and instead just sighed and took a step back and sat down on Laura's bed. She planted her hand on either side of her legs and her eyes focused on her shoes. She felt the bed dip as Laura's small frame sat next to her, closer then Danny was really comfortable with. Silence filled the little space that was between them and for a fleeting moment Danny realized that this probably wasn’t the easiest thing to talk about for Laura either. She might have felt a little bit more sympathetic if Laura wasn’t the one walking away with a girlfriend at the end of this conversation.

 

“So… First off, I’m sorry you had to see that..” Laura started and Danny almost rolled her eyes but she managed to keep them still. “But you really should have jumped to any conclusions-”

 

“What am I supposed to think? That you stopped kissing her and decided you weren’t that into it?” Danny snapped, harsh sarcasm dripping from her voice. She hadn’t meant to get so...defensive but it was hard. There were reasons she hadn’t wanted to talk about this, she wasn’t really the best at speaking civilly when she was emotional. Laura seemed a little taken back that Danny’s anger was directed at her, but she was angry, damnit. Angry and devastated and putting herself through this hell just because she couldn’t say no to Laura.

 

“Okay, maybe not that… but it’s not like we are suddenly dating because we kissed.” The Journalism major managed to  pull together a bit of her own irritation slipping into her voice.

 

“So you’re not dating the vampire?”

 

“No, we aren’t dating.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because things are complicated, okay! She’s a vampire, and my roommate, not to mention her mother is an evil- Wait, no. We’re not talking about this. We are supposed to talk about you.”

 

“What about me?”

 

“That you’re involved in all of this!” Danny could tell Laura was starting to get flustered, which might explain how this wasn’t making much sense to the redhead.

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

Laura let out a sound that Danny would only describe as a frustrated ‘Ugh!’ before  there were hands on her face and she was being pulled down to meet Laura’s lips.  She froze as she felt Laura kissing her with a purpose. What. Was. Happening!? Her body acted on it’s own before the whole situation could be sorted out in her head and she was kissing Laura back even if it was tentatively. She gained more confidence the longer the kiss lasted but it ended quickly as Laura pulled away and Danny felt it was hard to breath, like Laura had sucked it out of her lungs some how. She managed to get a breath in through and she opened her eyes and Laura was still _right_ there, almost asking to be kissed again.

 

“What was that..?” Danny whispered, forcing her eyes to move from Laura’s lips to her eyes.

 

“Was it that bad?” Laura said in mock worry, the growing smile on her face showed that she knew it had been pretty great actually.

 

“No that’s not- Why did you do it?” Danny’s lips quirked up slightly but her insecurities didn’t let her enjoy the fact that she had just been kissed by the girl she had been pining after since the beginning of the semester.

 

“Because I like you, Danny. Like, a lot.” Laura confessed as her face starting to flush a little bit. Now if Danny had heard Laura say this yesterday morning she would have been on cloud nine. Even now she could feel her heart beat faster despite the fact that she knew Laura’s words didn’t mean much thanks to a certain bloodsucker.

 

“What about Carmilla?” Danny forced the words out and they tasted bitter in her mouth. What was Laura hoping to accomplish by this? Dragging her heart through the dirt after she stomped on it.

 

“Well… I like her too.” The blush on Laura’s face got even deeper and her eyes were focused on her clasped hands in her lap. Danny wasn’t sure what she was expecting to hear, she already knew this… Hell she had known for a few weeks since before she even walked in on them kissing.  It was just another reason why she didn’t like goth girl. Laura actually saying it though...it hurt worse then she was expecting. She could still fucking feel the tingle of Laura’s lips and the paradox of it all was making her head spin.

 

“Both of us..?” Laura nodded. “So what… you want to date both of us at the same time?” Danny had meant it sarcastically but Laura’s head peaked up and her eyes were almost bright as she seemed to think that Danny understood what she was talking about. “Wait, you are being serious?

 

“I don’t know…” Laura groaned and threw her head back in  a very Laura way. The way that meant she really had no idea what she was doing but was just doing it anyways. “I told you it was complicated! I like you both and I know it’s weird but I do. And I want to just da- I don’t know. I just want everyone to be happy and I don’t know how to do that.”

 

“I don’t think it works like that, Hollis.” Danny chided, her voice more gentle than it had been before. While the T.A. didn’t really sympathize with Laura (what was even to like about Morticia?) but she knew what it was like to get confused about love life. Hell, she was hardly a master, She hadn’t ever had a long time girlfriend and she always seemed to fall for the people who wouldn't love her back. So yeah, maybe liking two people at once was weird, but some people think liking girls is weird. She really didn’t want to judge but it was a little close to her heart because at least before she had known she didn’t have a chance with the freshman, which hurt but she was already starting the healing process… Now she didn’t know what was happening and she could already feel that glimmer of hope that she had extinguished itself relight despite how much it would hurt.

 

“Why can’t it though? It isn’t too much to ask for is it?” Laura pushed on and her smaller hand was grabbing Danny’s and of course stupid her squeezed Laura’s hand. Danny would love for everyone to be happy… but when it involved her, Laura, and Dead Girl, Danny didn’t think it was possible.

 

“You can’t make everyone happy, Laura.” It was something that was said often but that was because it was true. “But thank you for trying. I’m not used to that.” Before Laura could respond,  Danny’s phone beeped loudly and Danny grabbed it. It was Nancy. Boy was that going to be a fun conversation tonight. She already knew she was an idiot for what she did she didn’t need her sisters agreeing with her. Plus, there was a meeting she had to be at today, even if that wasn’t what Nancy was texting about. Danny sent a quick reply about being at the house soon.

 

“Summer society?” Laura asked, sounding downright disappointed.

 

“Yeah, I should probably head out before then send over a hunting party.” Danny joked… mostly. She hadn’t been terribly forthcoming with her sisters why she wanted to drink herself into oblivion but most of them probably had a good guess and Danny wasn’t the only overly protective person in the sorority.

 

“Are we… okay?” Laura asked looking up at Danny with something close to puppy dog eyes.

 

“I’ll see you later.” Danny promised then started to get up, but stopped when she  looked at Laura and saw the sun shingthrought rh rees making shadows on her face with the leaves. Bot her eyes though, the sun was hitting them and making them shine like they were gold and in the moment Danny wanted nothing more than to kiss Laura. She was leaning in, and Laura was leaning in and Danny knew she shouldn’t but it was just a kiss right? Maybe the last one she would get from the freshman if things went south so she closed that gap and placed a gentle kiss on Laura’s lips. A sort of seal to the promise that she would see her again and a hope that there would be more of this. Danny could have put more into the kiss, she wanted to even but she pulled back.  One her way towards the door she looked over her shoulder once to wave goodbye then left. By the time she closed the door behind her there was a big dumb grin on her face.

 

Then she turned to leave and practically ran into Carmilla.

 

They stood there for a moment just staring at each other. Danny was extremely grateful that Carmill hadn’t shown up a few minutes earlier or else it might  be a repeat of last night with the role reversed. Although wouldn’t that be poetic? Something told her Carmilla wouldn’t freak out as much… if only because she and LAura probably talked about the “Complicated things”. Was that why The vampire had drug her back to the dorm instead of letting her pass out on the forest floor.

 

“Oh look you can stand on your own now.” Carmilla taunted with her signature smirk.

 

“Shut up.” Danny barked… but not as harshly as she would have a week ago...oddly enough.Danny’s lame retort on made Carmilla even more cocky and she stared forward, probably to shove past Danny. Before she was close enough to touch her though Danny blurted out, “We talked, you know, about what happened last night.” Her words were enough to cause Carmilla to pause and from the look in the vampire’s eyes it was pretty clear she knew exactly what that meant.

 

“And I’m supposed to be..? What? Threatened? Hardly, Xena.” Carmilla rolled her eyes but her posture was stiffer than normal. Maybe she was threatened? Danny certainly wouldn’t mind that… unless it meant she was at risk of getting her neck snapped or something.

 

“No, just thought to should know.” Danny stated honestly. “I also made your bed.”

 

Carmilla’s face scrunched up at  that and she looked directly in Danny’s eyes and for the first time since meeting the creature of the night the word ‘cute’ flashed across her mind. It was quickly pushed aside for  idiotic and childish but it still happened.

 

“Gross…” was all the dark haired girl said before shoving past Danny to get to her room. Now it was Danny’s turn to smirk and she watched Carmilla until the door to room 307 was closed. Danny wasn’t really sure what that was about but she felt better than she had last so she was just going to take it. Also get the hell out of the dorms before someone tried to get her attention or Perry made her hand up something in the lobby that no one else could reach. She briefly bit her lower lip, remember the kisses she had just shared with one Mis Hollis then turned and booked it to the Summer Society house.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you Trombones for Beta-ing this!


End file.
